Difference between PvP and PvE

What will be the differences between a PvP server and a PvE server? I am curious because I know in DAoC I hated the PvP server because it was more or less everyone against everyone and if you had a low lvl and stuck your head outside a main capital city(safety zones) You were wtfpwned by some uber gank guild waiting for low lvls to port out.

afaik in WoW PvE it will still be horde vs alliance so if I am horde nobody from horde can gank my ass. Can someone with high knowledge on this matter enlighten me?

Thank you

No one from your own realm can gank you, be it PvE or PvP server...
Some info links that may be useful (or may not)

http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/realmtypes.html
http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/realms.html
http://worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/pvp-article.html

Even on the PvP server people will not be able to gank other members of their "side", although they can still duel each other and there may be arena combat at some stage for group duels. However wherever you are you will be a viable target for members of the enemy ... and it's quite surprising just how far into the newbie type areas they can get. Moreover a lot of the good quest sites and spawn areas are in contested zones, i.e. where there are population centres of both sides, so expect lots of fighting there.

On the PvE server PvP combat will be strictly optional and you will have a /pvp flag which you can set to show you are up for some fighting. That said it is still possible for the enemy to raid your areas and kill your guards and npc's, although Blizzard are looking into this behaviour as, in the eyes of some, it is little more than griefing. It's something of a pain in the bottom to have your quest npc's chain killed by enemies you can't even hit let alone kill.

I will probably roll a character to mess about with on the PvP server but, generally speaking, PvP action is usually one sided in most games and, for the majority of people, not a whole lot of fun. It only really becomes fun when there is an equal playing field - same numbers, similar levels -- which rarely, if ever, happens. Too much PvP action in MMOG's involves low levels or soloers getting ganked then whine fests on forums.

Maybe WoW will be different, we'll have to wait and see. Certainly if the PvP guilds do go to the same server to battle it out and prove who is best it would be a great idea. Here's hoping...

Thanks for links and info, made me alot smarter

PvE(normal) + RP servers:
In order to be attacked by the opposite faction you have to manually set /pvp flag on OR attack a npc of the opposing faction will flag you as pvp as well.

PvP: in Contested areas you can attack opposing factions at will, in controlled areas you can attack invading factions members, but invading factions members cannot attack you unless you /pvp or attack them first.

Each zone is Contested (ie free pvp) or Controlled by Alliance or Hoarde.

So no, level 60 hoarde cannot walk into a level 1 Alliance controlled zone and massacre every newbie, since all the low level zones are 'controlled'. The only way a hoarde can pvp in an alliance controlled zone is for the alliance person to attack them first or /pvp on.

Towns are also neutral or faction controlled. Alliance faction controlled town will have guards that wil attack hoarde on site. Neutral towns will have guards that only attack people if they start a fight in the town. So both hoarde/alliance can walk around Booty Bay or Gadgetzan and the guards will leave them alone as long as they leave the enemy players alone...

Unfortunately some of the Horde areas were a little hurried by Blizzard and higher level xp zones for the Alliance are very close to lower level contested zones. This gives Alliance gank squads easy access to comparatively lowbie Horde characters who are questing/xp'ing etc.

Turamber said:

Unfortunately some of the Horde areas were a little hurried by Blizzard and higher level xp zones for the Alliance are very close to lower level contested zones. This gives Alliance gank squads easy access to comparatively lowbie Horde characters who are questing/xp'ing etc.

Click to expand...

In the US open beta I didn't get any quests in a contested zone till about level 18, as soon as I entered the zone to start the quest I was immediately flagged by 2 night elves of level 25, it's annoying yes, but theres plenty of other quests to do inside your own controlled zones that you don't need to do these contested zone quests till much later on (I didn't see any alliance above lev 28 in that zone so i'm assuming they have better things to do...) .

Might want to read this as well:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds.html

It'll be available on both types of servers though, so it's not something that differs between the server types. Still useful info though.

Hillsbrad (shudder)

Level 25 Horde quest zone, while at the same time its a level 35 Alliance quest zone.

Very stupid on Blizzard part.

While in Hillsbrad, nearly everyone who was "Level ??" left us alone. Had a fair few nice fights there, I don't think it's a big problem.

I had to go into contested territories to do my lvl 20 pet quest for my Warlock, didnt run into any Alliance peeps so it was just in and out for me.